WEBVTT

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So on 911 I was stationed with 86

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combat support hospital at Fort

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Campbell and we have received all our

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doctors and nurses as part of upcoming

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deployment to Kosovo . We were supposed

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to fly out of the states on 14

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September um I remember being at C . I .

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F . And uh some someone coming out

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knowing that it was a new yorker , they

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let me know that a plane had hit the

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towers . Uh so um it wasn't uncommon

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for for accidents like that to occur

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where something might hit a building ,

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but this was distinctly different ,

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especially when the second plane hit .

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I remember being in the orderly room

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and watching on a grainy television ,

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the towers fall uh being a new yorker ,

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I was a little concerned for people

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back home . Uh some other distinct

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memories from that day . I remember

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driving back into post and watching

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guys with rucksacks , lock their cars

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with the keys in the car at the side of

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the road and just rockin through post

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because the line was so long and line

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just wasn't moving Once I got back onto

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post , I remember seeing a humvee with

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a mark 19 parked on the grass in front

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of an elementary school , which was

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just completely foreign . And it was

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hard to hard to understand

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uh being the only full of combat

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support hospital at the time with all

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the doctors and nurses and medics and

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everything else . Um We had been told

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by our leaders to lockdown in the motor

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pool , We slept in the motor pool that

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night expecting to go to new york the

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next day and go to Ground zero and help

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people . Um you know , from a medical

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perspective , but they never came to

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fruition because of the high number of

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casualties we did get on the aircraft

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probably about six or seven days later ,

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we were one of the first aircraft to

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fly out the states for deployment to

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Kosovo . Uh huh . Of note are real

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detachment in the rear detachment from

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28th combat support hospital that was

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in Bosnia . They form a task force 44

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and they made initial entry into

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Uzbekistan is the medical unit going in

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there , set the conditions for the

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theater . So um

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yeah ,

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when I , When I came back from

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Kosovo um I went to ground zero

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um it was something I felt I needed to

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do as a new yorker when I went home to

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visit family to start the conversation

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there with one of the guys and he

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disappeared and came back and he gave

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me this . It's a , it's a piece of an I

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beam from there and you can see where

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it really boiled . It got so hot . Uh

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and something I carry with me . Um you

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know , it's the first thing to go up in

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my office . It's something I put in my

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rock and I carried across the Berm in

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2003 when we went into Iraq . But a

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real solid memento of that

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day that I reflect on every time I see

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it being a new yorker . Um

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ah Being a volunteer firefighter .

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Um My heart really went out to these

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guys . Uh We had volunteer firefighters

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in my neighborhood that got in their

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engine and started driving the Long

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Island expressway to get into the city .

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They just didn't get there in time .

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Buy things just like every other

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soldier who wants to rush towards the

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sounds of of people in need and help .

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Um It was difficult being a new yorker

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and not being there and not being able

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to help . Um Right

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I actually picked up that mental you're

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holding their extraordinarily heavy .

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It is um It's very deceiving .

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Um It's rusted over time . It was

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really just all black initially but

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over time it's a little oxidized . Um

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Actually pretty surprising . What are

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the words on their say sir ? Um .

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Uh You know looking back I probably

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never needed to write on here . Um But

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I did I wrote on the back of your W . T .

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C . Never forget september 11th 2001 .

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Um I don't think anyone will ever

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forget that day . It's in grains

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especially for those of us who were

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there at the time . It's ingrained in

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our memories and that's Children . They

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know it's a big deal but it's just not

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the same impact I think emotion . Yeah

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my uh my Children my first one was born

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in 2006 so I've got three kids who

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never saw the towers fall . Um it's

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difficult still talking with them . I

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got a little choked up . Um , my sister

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has friends that were at ground zero

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that day . Um , so it's uh , I I think

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if you're a new yorker or you know ,

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even for Jersey that matter , you know ,

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you know someone who's , who's got some

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attachment to that um back home In

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Melville on Long Island , some of the

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streets are renamed for people who died

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on 9 11 . So it's really become part of

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our culture I think and the way it

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brought the nation together , remember

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it was just like everything else stops ,

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You know , immediately in the aftermath

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of 9 11 , there was maybe in the new

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yorker , I sort of tend to drive

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aggressively from time to time , but um ,

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it was always letting someone else in .

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Um , those things , hopefully we've

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kept those with us over the years were

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more kind to one another because we

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don't know what tomorrow's gonna bring

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for us . So , Um , I hope that's a

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lesson that we've , we've gathered at

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9:11 and the tragedy